The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1887-12-20
The BEACH CONDERS.
BY WILLIAM PERRY BROWN.

BY WILLIAM PERRY BROWN.
During the month of August in the year
| 1877, large iron steamship was blown ashore
!, on q wild portion OF the eastern coast of
Florida in hurricane. She was called the
Ladona, and was bound to New Orleans from
New York with an asserted cargo.
She settled down in the sand with her nose
in the air, some two hundred yards from the
beach, AT low tide one could wade out to
within thirty feet of her, the swirl of north
easterly waves having formed a channel all
round her bow. The stern had settled down
in ten fathoms of water
In those days, this portion of the eastern
coast was very thinly settled by hunters, cow
boys and a few families from other southern
states, mostly driven from their old homes by
the resulting exigences of the civil war. All
We're poor, the hurricane had ruined their
crops, SO they gathered from far and near to
despoil this crippled giant OF the ocean of its
treasures.
A party of four. known severally as Cap,
Little Dave, Boy Blue and Old Moss Moore,
arrived in q half furnished condition about
midnight on the lagoon side of the narrow
strip OF land that guards from the Atlantic
SurgeS the long series of tide water sounds. here
lining the ocean shore for two hundred miles
A heavy rain storm of the previous night had
ruined their supply of hominy. As the residue
OF their GRUB consisted solely of tomato
can full of odorous lard, their hunger was
easily accounted for. Some other campers had
their mosquito bars stretched at the boat land
ing. One of our party discovered a pot of
stewed onions and potatoes by the embers of
their fire. The appetizing smell was too much
for the probity OF half starved men, The pot
was surreptitously conveyed to a safe distance
in the scrub and emptied quickly of its con-
tnets.
"The interposition of that pot Of souse is
certainly providential,' qouth Cap, the
moralizer of the party. cit saves us while
from drawing straws to see which of us shall be
eaten first"
They stealthily returned the pot, laughing
over its owners probable state of mind on
finding it empty in the morning. Then,
shouldering their bedding and q couple of
empty cooking vessels, they started for the
ocean beach then about mile distant
The moon shone brightly, and the light land
breeze sweeping over the lagoon was laden
with mosquitoes from the marshes. The muf-
fled thunder of the breakers f1oated over the
sand hills with intermittent yet increasing
power At last the mighty sheen of waters
and the broad sloping avenue of the beach,
swept clean by the perpetual tides, lay before
them. They YEARLY trod the hard, moist sand,
looking for a convenient place to "spread
down" for the night.
"Here, boys" cried Little Dave, who was
ahead, ''dont say grub to me any more. Here's
whore l camp tonight"
So saying he threw his blanket down besist
q large pile OF Irish potatoes and onions.
Where had they come from? On that desert
shore" with nature represented mostly with
barren sand and saltwater, to find such mama
in the wilderness was little short of miraculous
"You can find anything on the ocean beach,
said old Moss Moore, peeling an onion with his
hunting knife.
When one remembers that these shores re-
ceive, so to speak, the fotscm Of four thous-
and miles of western rolling waves, such re-
marks are not so very strange. Yet, of all
things potatoes and onions!
LET us pray for picked pork next" quoth
Boy Blue, but this pfofane suggestion fell up
on sleep deadened ears.
In the morning, though, they did not get pork
Little Dave and Cap fshed a half barrel of
Fulton market beef out Of the breakers which,
alas ON opening, proclaimed itself fit food only
for the buZZardS sailing over the sand dunes
mile to the south ard the black bow OF the
Ladona projected from the sea, surrounded by
a curling swarm of breakers. Strung along
the sandhills were series Of rude biyouacs,
marked by sheltering arrangements of boxes
and barrels, and the tapping of numerous
mosquito bars. Numbers OF men, singly or in
groups, wandered along the beach watching
the waves for wreckage, or gathering up the
potatoes and onions drifting ashore from sew
eral hundred barrels that had been washed
from the steamers main deck.
The beach for several miles looked not I'M
like wholesale street in large city during
business hours, suddenly Invested of houses and
teams, leaving men and merchandise scattered
hats and shoes, together with ragged shirts and
pants, scattered here and there, evinced a new
order of things for the Beach-Combers. One
would meet a barefooted man clad in fine cassi-
mere Or broadcioth, with brceches rolled up,
Squatting over q fire, frying pan in hand. In
an hour old Moss Moore, arrayed in q white
shirt, yellow doeskin pants and high silk hat,
was seen chasing floating box Of boots up and
down amid the breakers.
Our party were soon installed in a camp,
Slplfnrn1 bV
cases, and at low tide were ready to go on
board with the rest. There were three score
or more OF the beach combers, divided into
groups Of from five to dozen, who then swan
and waded on board, and got out such portions
OF the cargo as they could, until the tide be-
came too high for such work Then the goods
were thrown on the beach, into as many equal
piles as there were men in the gang. One
man would turn his head and another one,
pointing to a certain lot, would say to him.
"Whose pile is thisY'
John Smiths"
John Smith would then stand by his pile
until all were similarly apportioncd, when
each man would carry Of and care for his own
plumber.
Everybody was short of provisions and every
one lived on the wrecked potatoes and onions
until, as Little Dave said ''The whole country
smelled like garlic patch"
a shrewd Ohio man saw how things were,
and quietly going home, returned in few days
with boat load Of -four, meal, coffee and
bacon. That move was considered 10 have
made his fortune then and there. Bacon sold
for one pair Of shoes per pound, while it took
good pair Of boots 10 secure an equal amount
of coffee. AS TO -four and meal, the men
recklessly threw In whole suits of clothes, bolts
Of jeans and calico and hats and white shirts
by the half dozen to obtain enough to last each
man for week or two.
Never since the surrender OF Lee did plain
provisions bring such fancy prices in trade
throughout Dixie The Ohio man sailed down
the lagoon the next day with his boat loaded to
the gunnals. Some Of the men laughed when
they afterwards heard that he had capsized in
Rowana river, and lost half Of his spoils.
"Seryed him right for his greed" they said,
but the man had only practiced on a small
scale what many large grain operators do on
large scale, when they get the chance.
The first time our greenhorns stood on the
slippery incline Of the Ladona's forward deck
with rayenous waves suTging past them shore
ward, or dasfing up the main deck towards
them with an angry Bwash and roar, the land
behind seemed mile away. IL was difficult TO
accustom themselves TO work, with this briny
uprOar about their cars, even in mild weather.
The goods were hauled up through the for
ward hatch The men had 10 lower themselves
into three feet Of water, that grew deeper to-
wards the waist Of the ship, and erope, half